New Quality Enhancement Plan Focuses on Student Success

A new Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) at Meredith will focus on a student success initiative known as Plan & Finish. The QEP was developed as a standard part of the SACS reaccreditation process.

Plan & Finish will feature success coaches who will serve as mentors to help students connect with campus resources and develop transferable skills such as resilience, time management, networking, and goal setting.

Success coaches at Meredith will assist students with various strategies to effectively use their time and stay focused on their educational goals. Coaches will help students make good choices and overcome obstacles.

With support from academic advisors and their success coaches, students will meet concrete program milestones that will help to ensure timely degree completion. These benchmarks include completing a minimum number of credit hours each academic year, declaring a major by the end of sophomore year, building and editing graduation plans, and more.

“This QEP builds on StrongPoints® and aims to increase student success by providing a strong support system for students,” said Senior Vice President and Provost Matthew Poslusny. “Students will develop a holistic plan for their college experience, including an academic plan to graduate, experiential learning plans, career goals, and financial literacy.”

The QEP was developed over a 22-month process that included campus-wide input.

Meredith launched a success coaching pilot program in fall 2020. The pilot program featured five part-time success coaches. The faculty and staff members who served as coaches received specialized training for the role.

The pilot program demonstrated that Plan & Finish will benefit students and provided valuable information about how to effectively implement the QEP on a broad scale.

Many students who participated in the pilot program found the success coach model to be a helpful addition to their support systems, as the testimonial below shows.

“My success coach was able to give me advice that my professors or advisor might not have been able to help me with,” the student wrote in an evaluation. “Her support was also clear from the beginning and continued to strengthen through our sessions.”

Full implementation will take place in fall 2022.